From the Bookshelf of Reading List Completists…

Something Wicked This Way Comes

Ray Bradbury

Start date: March 1, 2017

Finish date: March 31, 2017

Discussion: Group Reads

Why we're reading this: Winner of the "I Had So Many Extra Words My Title is Huge" Poll - March 2017…more
[close] Winner of the "I Had So Many Extra Words My Title is Huge" Poll - March 2017

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What Members Thought

Mar 03, 2017 Matthew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio, 2017, completist-book-club, supernatural, library, hoopla

By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes.
MacBeth Act 4, Scene 1

This book is straight-forward good vs. evil – and is quite terrifying at points! It goes beyond fantasy and mysticism and straight to the terrifying possibilities from the darkest reaches. This would be a great story to read if you are looking for a campfire tale, a Halloween scare, or a late night, nightmare causing fright fest. Some may find the scariness lost within the poetry of Bradbury’s writing, but fo ...more

168 likes · Like · see review

Oct 17, 2020 Frances rated it it was amazing

Ray Bradbury writes such beautiful lyrics to this story where we discover the relationship between two bestfriends, and between a middle-aged father and his young son. Themed as a horror novel, perhaps Mr.Bardbury knew that it is when what is most precious is at stake that we realize what matters most, and what we would give up to keep it.

13 likes · Like · see review

Jun 25, 2023 Michael Finocchiaro rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, classics, american-20th-c, novels, horror

I wanted to like this one more. Maybe the evil Carnival trope that this book inspired has just jaded me to the whole concept. I think that American Gods was definitely inspired by the ideas here. I just didn't enjoy the prose as much as the magnificent The Martian Chronicles and never got attached to any of the characters. I gave it three stars primarily because of its influential character of it rather than the joy of reading it. ...more

9 likes · Like · see review

Sep 29, 2022 James Joyce rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, horror, adventure, children, aa-have-a-copy, a-fiction, aa-series-part-of, circus-carnival-troupe, setting-na-usa, setting-a-a-a-fictional

Two boys in 1950s/60s Illinois witness the impossible and near-instantaneous arrival of a carnival to Greentown.

The carnival offers you what you want, then feeds on your needs and your fears, turning them back on you and twisting your body, to mirror them. The freaks who inhabit the carnival are previous customers who are now the helpless slaves, assisting Mr. Dark and Mr. Cooger in their evil ways.

As townsfolk begin falling prey to the carnival, Will and Jim must do something, but who would be ...more

6 likes · Like · see review

Jan 21, 2023 Peter Adamson rated it liked it

Ooh boy; based on my enjoyment of this I would have given it two stars, but I just couldn’t—in good conscience—give Ray Bradbury that low of a rating.

So what went wrong? I am still processing, but…

Bottom line: the prose was generally so uselessly florid that long passages would go by without me really understanding what was happening, but I often wouldn’t care enough to go back and re-read to figure it out.

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